Town's Bengali community celebrate festival first

Prasenjit Nath and Avijit Sarkar are part of the Suffolk Bengali Society which organised Ipswich's first Durga Puja festival

A town's Bengali community has held a major festival for the first time.

A two-day programme for Durga Puja was organised in Ipswich by the Suffolk Bengali Society on 27 and 28 September.

Sue Raychaudhuri, from the group, said: "I've lived in Suffolk for 25 years and I cannot explain to you how ecstatic I feel it's on my doorstep in Ipswich.

The Hindu celebration tells the story of how the goddess Durga leaves her spiritual realm for five days every autumn and visits her mortal devotees to allow them to be seen by her.

The event was held at the Goals soccer centre in Ipswich, with a large display of icons set up at one end.

The icons, which include the goddess Durga in the centre, were imported from India especially for the festival.

Across the two days, there was an array of rituals and offerings, along with Bengali food and a programme of cultural performances with 300 people attending.

The festival is also likened to the Christian Christmas as people give and receive gifts and wear new clothes.